CFP: [Graduate] CFP

full name / name of organization:

Taylor Joy Mitchell

contact email:

tmitche2@mail.usf.edu

Registration for the upcoming â€œANYTHING BUT SAFE: Sex, Sexuality, andGenderâ€ National Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference at the Universityof South Florida, on the 6th, 7th, and 8th of March 2009 is now open.Deadline for proposals is January 5, 2009.

The theme of this interdisciplinary 2009 conference is sex, sexuality, andgender. We hope this very broad topic will allow us to explore currentissues in scholarship and pedagogy that relate to all aspects of sex,sexuality, and gender. It's inclusive but still specific. These termshave been contested in all aspects of society and the humanities:literature, womenâ€™s studies, philosophy, theory, sociology, history,anthropology, etc. People like sex, society eschews sexuality, andacademia banters about gender theory.

The English Graduate Student Association at the University of SouthFlorida invites paper proposals from graduate students of all disciplinesresponding to the title of our conference, "Anything But Safe: Sex,Sexuality, and Gender." We would like presenters to explore the ways thatsex, sexuality, and gender reflect the attitudes of the past, present orfuture as well as examine the ways that these constructions work againstand within the existing order. Our keynote speaker will be KateBornstein, an author, playwright, and performance artist. Her most recentbook is titled, Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Sucides for Teens,Freaks, and other Outlaws. Other information can be found at her website:http://www.katebornstein.com/KatePages/kate_bornstein.htm

When we, as academics, associate sex, sexuality and gender as 'anythingbut safe,' we refer to the original idea that these terms are culturallyconstructed. As constructions, they are necessarily informed by culturalcircumstances and manipulated according to the existing expectations ofclass, race, and power relations. Moving forward to post-modern/post-structuralist readings of these terms that reject bright-line definitionsin favor of more fluid imaginings that are unstable, and hence unsafe, weseem to be left with no safe venue in which to discuss sex, sexuality, andgender. Someone will ultimately be left out or offended. Thus, conferencepresenters are encouraged to investigate the various intersections ofsex/gender issues and their specific area of specialty (such asliterature, film studies, education/pedagogy, psychology, anthropology,sociology, biology, medicine, history, American studies, politicalscience, international studies, or religious studies).

EGSA requests that paper or panel proposals address some specific aspectof modern life (i.e, literature, academia, history, film, popular culture,etc.) in terms of sex, sexuality or gender. Presenters are welcome todiscuss how modernity eschews normalized definitions of these terms orexamine how sex, sexuality, and gender have become destabilized concepts.We will give special consideration to papers that address how culturalconstructs of sex, sexuality, and gender are 'anything but safe.' Becausedestabilization is not a new idea, we are specifically looking for papersthat scrutinize how these terms translate into society, politics,textbooks, or within the confines of the classroom. Possible topics arebelow:

Pedagogical imperatives in multi-gendered classroomsSexuality and filmSex and authorityGender and authorityEroticism in literature and filmPutting the "liberal" into liberal artsSex and society: sexually-charged current eventsSexuality and Sex: secular vs. religious viewsShattered images of masculinity/femininity in contemporary life andaestheticsSame-sex bonding rituals as traced through history/anthropologyNudity, pornography, and new media (tv, ads, internet, youtube,cybersex...)Sexual rubrics: how (American) "society" evaluates others based upon theirsexual conductThe objectification/economization/commodification of female/male bodiesSex, sexuality, and elective surgeryFeminists and the free-love movementSexual warfare: war rapes/crimes against women, gender/sexual-orientation/etc.-based hate crimesEthics of female genital mutilationCohabitation's impact on the sanctity/necessity of marriageGeneration seX: what has become normalized in today's sexualities? Whatremains taboo?Politicizing sexThe female factor in contemporary international politicsSex and STDsSex crimes and the lawSex and 21st Century religionsHot for teacher: problems in the recent student-teacher sex epidemicRhetoric of seduction in film and literatureMultiple mindsets: psychology behind swinging, orgies, infidelities, andso on

This conference aims to explore present and past narratives of sex,sexuality, and gender and to ask what is at stake when these unsafenarratives are shared. We aim to publish a selection of the conferenceproceedings in a special issue of Banyan, our graduate peer-reviewedonline journal. Please visit our website atenglish.usf.edu/anythingbutsafe/ for moreinformation.

Keynote Speaker: Kate Bornstein will give a keynote address on March 6thand a offer a gender workshop on March 7th

Conference Venue: The Marshall Center at the University of South Florida,Tampa, Florida. Besides conference events, we offer south Floridatemperatures and beaches in March. We would also like to extend freeaccommodations, in USF graduate homes, to traveling graduate students.

The â€œAnything but Safeâ€ conference is a joint venture between the EnglishGraduate Student Association and supported by University of SouthFloridaâ€™s Humanities Institute.